The Battle of B-Town
by caeciliatheflute
Summary: Just your average Avengers fanfic... ish. Yeah, Loki tried to take over New York... but first he tried to do it at our high school. Collab with WingsofNyx and ThatGirlWithTheFedora.
1. Loki'd

_**Hello, everyone. If you read this back when it had 11 chapters, you might notice a few differences. Leah's name is now Lennon. She's no longer stupid. Charlie is no longer a totally stubborn rebel (just a mostly stubborn rebel). And the entire thing is basically just Kat's POV. That might change, but I doubt it. It's just easier. So thank you for reading, and here's chapter 1! (Again!)**_

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I tapped my feet on the shiny linoleum floors of the caf (short for cafeteria) as I waited for my friend Lennon. Yeah, that's her name. Like the Beatles member, but as her first name.  
She slid into her seat not long after I had, letting out a sigh as she dropped her Geometry textbook none too carefully onto the maroon tabletop with a loud **THUD**.  
"Hey, Len," I acknowledged, pulling my food out of my lunch and beginning to eat quickly.  
"Hi, Kat," she sighed, sounding more tired than me for once. And as the softball player who often had upwards of four games a week plus dance, this was saying something.  
My brow furrowed in suspicion. "What's wrong?" I asked.  
"Ugh, I'm just so _tired_," she moaned, "Like, I'm getting dizzy from it, I have a _major_ headache, and every time I close my eyes I keep seeing this emerald green color."  
I grimaced. "Ouch."  
"Hey," came another voice before Lennon was able to reply. Sliding into a seat to my left was my fedora-wearing friend, Charlie.  
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Lennon asked from between her arms.  
"What?" Charlie asked, pulling an earbud from her ear.  
Lennon made an exasperated noise and dropped her head back to the table.  
"Yeah, why aren't you in class?" I asked.  
Charlie shrugged. "I was bored."  
My eyebrows lifted dubiously. "More than usual?"  
"I guess you could say that."  
"Charlie, you can't just _walk out of class_!"  
"You mean, _you_ can't just walk out of class. _I_, however, do what I want."  
Lennon mumbled something.  
"Come again?" I asked her.  
She lifted her head. "You are interrupting my valuable homework time with your teenage angst. Stop it. I'm trying to work." She let her head fall onto her arms again.  
Charlie raised an eyebrow. "By sleeping, you're doing homework?"  
Without lifting her head, Lennon groped the air for Charlie's shoulder. After she found it, she punched her shoulder and then retracted her arm.  
"I resent that," Charlie said.  
_Deal_, came Lennon's voice in our heads. Of the three of us, Lennon had mastered the art of telepathy, or constantly able to be in contact with someone. Like a cell phone, but ten to the millionth power times worse.  
Charlie brought her hands together and apart slowly, and a glowing blue ball of energy formed between them. She had been struggling to form a force field for a while now, and it slowly fizzled out and died.  
"Very nice, Charlotte," I chuckled as I grabbed a paper towel, ignoring the glare I got from her. I dried my fingers off and stuck my hands under the table. Snapping them, I got the tingly feeling that appeared whenever I lit them on fire. Yeah, that's my power: fire. My theory is that the other two got general magic skills, but I got the element of fire for whatever reason.  
There was a noise from the ceiling indicating an imminent announcement.  
"This is a lockdown situation. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is-!" There was a choking noise, then a squeal from the P. A. system as the handset was fumbled.  
"Disregard that last statement," a smooth British voice announced. "You are free to go about your usual business."  
"Is not sure whether to believe this suspicious yet gorgeous voice," Charlie said. "Did you two hear that as well, or am I just delusional?"  
"Oh, no, I definitely heard that," I told her, my eyes widening.  
"Yeah, me too," Lennon agreed.  
Now, normally we didn't hear the footsteps of those above us down in the cafe, but today we heard the footsteps. It sounded like the Marines were storming our lunch hour, and I didn't like the sound of it.  
"Guys, what is this?" I asked. "We don't have... like, a Marines demonstration or anything, do we?"  
They both shook their heads, adding to the rising panic in my stomach. I could feel the heat building inside me, and worried as I felt it work its way to my hands. My hands were my weak spot, and I couldn't let my powers escape. Though the three of us had only learned about our powers last summer (and had miserably tried to learn how to control them, much less _use_ them since), we had kept it under relatively tight wraps.  
Charlie didn't seem to share my sentiment. She smiled. "Finally. A chance to discover our..." She wiggled her fingers in a way that made me more than a little worried. "TRUE potential."  
Lennon bit her lip. At least she was awake. "Charlie..."  
"Maybe these powers will help us survive, Lennon," she snapped.  
"Down, girl," I told Charlie. "No one's attacking you, so don't lash out without good reason, okay?"  
"I'm not LASHING OUT," Charlie answered hotly.  
"Char, we both know what happens when I get mad. We don't want that to happen, agreed?" I said firmly.  
She looked annoyed, but not as mutinous as she had earlier. "I'm just saying, Kat. Why do we have these powers? Maybe fighting some British creep will help us discover-"  
"If you're gonna say TRUE POTENTIAL..." Lennon warned, letting her voice trail off menacingly. The girl may have been nice whenever she was around people she didn't know as well as us, but Charlie and I knew her true disposition. The girl was a monster if provoked.  
"Down, girl," Charlie said, half to mock me and half to discourage Lennon from being... well, Lennon.  
Panicked murmurs swept the caf and people began rising from their seats and eyeing the nearest exits while the supervisors tried to keep everything under control (in vain, I might add-there were some pretty tall and strong people in this room). As the noise got louder and louder, almost in the caf, people began forcing their way out. This, in turn, caused an uproar both in noise and in attempts to leave.  
Just when I thought there was going to be a full-out rebellion, a bright blue light enveloped us all, forcing us to freeze.  
Then, an instant later, we were free once more. Upperclassmen and underclassmen alike turned to stare at the man who had entered through the double doors in the west side of the caf.  
He was tall, pale skin starkly contrasting his dark hair (black, I guess, but I couldn't quite see him because of all the other people standing in my way) that peeked out from underneath a golden horned helmet.  
Strange? Yes.  
On him? No.  
His piercing green-blue eyes, almost matched the color of his cape, underneath which he wore... armor? Went with the helmet, I guess, as it was black, grey, gold, and silver.  
In his hand was a long, gold spear that had two blades. Between them was a small, blue, glowing sphere.  
"Quiet, Midgardians!" he shouted, his voice smooth and calming. He sounded like the one that had interrupted the lockdown announcement, and that made me worried.  
_Is it just me, or does he sound like the voice from before?_ I asked Lennon. She made eye contact with me momentarily as she heard my question, then looked at Charlie to ask her the same.  
_I think he is,_ I heard Charlie reply. _Gosh, he is easy on the eyes. And ears. I think we should go socialize._  
_Charlie!_ I hissed. _This is no time for scoping out guys, especially not ones that're threatening our school!_ I paused a second, cocked my head, then looked at her again. _You're right. Although I hate talking to new people, I don't think I would mind him._  
Lennon facepalmed. _Thanks, Kat._  
_Y'know who that looks like?_ Charlie asked. _Kat, why don't you guess?_  
_Uhh..._ I scrutinized the man for a second, then my eyes widened. _He looks like-_  
_-the Norse god, Loki, am I right?_ Charlie thought, a grin unfurled across her face.  
I grinned at her. _That's exactly what I was going for. You mindreader. _  
"My name is Loki, Prince of Asgard," the man announced, both hands on his spear. "I am looking for a select few of you with special... abilities- abilities that could help me reclaim my throne, which was stolen from me by my older brother."  
"I've got a special ability!" a bleach-blonde girl chirped, running up to Loki.  
_Talents...?_ Lennon thought nervously, looking in Charlie's and my direction.  
A mob of people had started to move towards Loki, but even from where the three of us stood on the edge of the thinning crowd we could hear his exasperated sigh.  
"If you would all please-" he requested, forced calm injected in his voice, "-step back so that I may cast a spell and determine who I will take with me?"  
Eagerly the people ebbed away from him, and he began chanting. Charlie turned to us, face contorted in an expression of worry.  
"Guys," she hissed, "you do know that Loki is the god of mischief and lies, right?"  
"Yeah," I replied. "So what?"  
"So, he's not the rightful heir to the throne he claimed he's missing. Between him and his older brother, Thor-" I felt my eyes widen as I recognized the names finally, "-Loki's the, er, foster child, and Thor's the rightful heir to the Asgardian throne."  
"Oh, dang," Lennon murmured.  
Another flash of bright light shot through the caf, this one green, and I felt something... search my soul. It must have liked what it found, because Charlie, Lennon and I lit up the green color we'd seen not seconds ago.  
"Uh, what's the plan, Kat?" Charlie asked as Loki began to stride purposefully towards us.  
"Run." They needed nothing more and we began to sprint away from the god as fast as we could.

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**_See? Not bad! (If we do say so ourselves.) As always, I couldn't do this without Nyx and TGWTF. Nyx actually wrote most- if not all- of the first three chapters. She posted it on DeviantArt, so fave it on there!_**


	2. A History Lesson

_**See? I added more! Oh, before I forget, we only own Kat, Lennon, and Charlie. Because if I owned the Avengers, I wouldn't have to write fanfiction about them.**_

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"Where are we going?" Lennon asked as we climbed the staircase to the main floor.  
"I don't know, I was gonna ask you!" I shrieked.  
"Mr. Robertson?" Charlie asked.  
"Good enough for me," Lennon agreed, and we jogged down the hallway towards our Global Studies teacher's room. When we finally made it, we entered, the sound of the handle's click almost lonely-sounding as we cautiously peered into the room.  
"Uh, guys?" Leah whispered. "Problem: we're _still_ glowing."  
And, just like that, our glow-stick powers faded.  
"Girls?" Mr. Robertson whispered. "Is there a problem?"  
"You mean, besides the rampaging _god_ who's freaking after our freaking powers?!" Charlie hissed. Robertson said nothing, only beckoning us further into the room. I noticed a metal bat leaning against the wall behind his desk, and as he caught my eye he placed the handle of another in my hand, nodding slightly as if to give permission.  
I had only just registered Lennon's panicked curse in my mind when the door slammed open. The lights burst on, and there stood the self-proclaimed prince. The surprise was that he didn't have his army of followers behind him.  
Lennon, Charlie and I all squeaked at his appearance, but Robertson only stood and folded his arms against his football shirt. Sizing the god up as he strode cockily into the room, the history teacher and baseball coach seemed not to find anything he couldn't handle.  
Loki turned to face our history teacher, and the discrepancy between the two was apparent as the black-haired man looked him over: at 5'11", our teacher was no small man, but the god stood even taller. He must've been six feet at the very least, probably about 6'1 or 6'2. Robertson was also better built than the god, having played basketball, baseball and football in high school and coaching football and baseball now. The god, on the other hand, was tall but lanky, probably required to use magic rather than muscle to attack his opponents.  
The prince's green-blue eyes met our teacher's brown ones. Loki scepter glowed menacingly, and i felt my heart rate kick up a notch as my heart flew into my throat.  
_Get him away from the door, then make a break for it,_ I thought at Lennon and Charlie. They caught my eye and nodded, telling me that they understood.  
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the so-called _prince_," Charlie mocked.  
"Yumiko," Robertson growled warningly. His eyes flicked from her back to Loki.  
"Oh, sorry, you guys haven't met one another yet, have you?" Lennon said sweetly, interrupting the intense staring contest. "Mr. Robertson, this is Prince Loki of Asgard. Loki, this is Mr. R, our history teacher."  
His lip curled mockingly, a sneer growing on his face. "Charmed, I'm sure."  
Mr. Robertson ignored him and looked at us. "Are you out of your MINDS?!" he muttered.  
"Now, let's see," Loki mused, pretending he hadn't heard our teacher's outburst. Raising his staff, he formed a green ball of energy and threw it at Mr. R. It "searched" him as it had us, then flowed back to the spear. Loki cocked his head at Robertson when the magic was gone, "Well, you're really not all that _powerful_," he began, circling the other man, who watched his every step, "but... _athletic_. You could be of use."  
Robertson stared at him for a second, almost blankly, but from across the room I could see the figurative gears turning in his mind. This man, who had taught us for so long to study history, suddenly dropped to the floor and bowed his head as he knelt.  
"I am at your command, my prince," he told Loki, who was frozen in an expression of shock.  
One of his hands slowly slid away from in front of him, and after getting our attention signalled us to get out of there while we could.  
Loki took a step towards Robertson. "That was easy," he intoned in his smooth voice. His eyes suddenly narrowed, and I feared he'd discovered our plan "Nearly _too_ easy."  
The bowing man raised his head. "_Easy_, my lord?" He scoffed. "I would never lie to you."  
"Certainly not, because I would feel it," Loki muttered. His face suddenly lit up. "My _lord_... It's nearly better than _prince_. But _king_... now that has a ring to it, wouldn't you think?"  
"Certainly... my king."  
"Ooh, yes, I like that."  
Mr. Robertson glanced over his shoulder. "Girls, go!" he yelled. Then he got up and threw a strong punch into the god's face.  
Lennon let out a scream, and I picked up one of the baseball bats to defend myself as Loki staggered around. "Leave our school ALONE!" I screamed at Loki, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do.  
"Adler, what are you doing?! RUN!" Robertson shouted as Loki lifted his staff once more. I wasn't quite thinking as I raised the bat, the rubbery grip slightly sticky as my palms began to sweat, and took a swing at Loki. The composite weapon made a sickening _CRUNCH_ noise as it connected with the side of Loki's neck.  
I snapped back to awareness when Robertson called my name as I stood over the god's body. Had I killed him? His neck certainly looked broken enough...  
I gagged. I'd never killed anyone, never even _thought_ of killing anyone before. But as I looked at my teacher's reaction to the pool of blood collecting on his floor (made by ME, I might add), I could tell I could tell I was in serious trouble, no matter that I'd just taken out the threat to 3,000 students-myself, Charlie and Lennon included-and various staff.  
Until the prince got up.  
I unconsciously took a step back. I couldn't breathe.  
"You ignorant wench," Loki growled. "I am a GOD."  
I whipped around as I heard a _THUMP_ behind me, and saw Lennon unconscious. Being somewhat squeamish, I assumed that the sight of the crimson pool of blood on the floor had gotten to her.  
"This is going to be too easy," Loki chuckled. "I will crush you like I crushed your peers."  
Robertson swore. "Leave them alone, Loki!" He looked at us, a sad smile on his face. "Girls, remember what to do about a Committee of Public Safety?"  
"Run like heck!" Charlie and I yelled, Charlie lifting a groggy Lennon to her feet. We dashed across the room, seeming to upset as many desks as humanly possible, and were at the door when we heard a wet squelching noise. We turned, only to see Loki behind a wide-eyed, falling Robertson.  
"Pest," Loki spat, turning and coming towards us.  
"NO!" Charlie cried.  
Loki chuckled evilly. He was only getting closer and closer to our frozen forms, so I-at the back of the pack-pushed Lennon and Charlie none too gently through the door. Tearing up, we ran away.  
We were dashing towards the auditorium, a huge darkened box that, as Charlie assured us, would give us the space to hide, let Loki get lost and/or mesmerized by the stage, then run.  
That was our plan... at least until I ran into a tall, blonde man. He was dressed much like Loki, armor and a cape, but he was much more like Robertson than Loki in build, if not more muscular.  
"Have you ladies seen my brother, perchance?" he asked.  
I blinked for a second, astounded to see another like the raging psychopath out to get us, then came to my senses. "You mean, the tall, dark-haired-"  
"Yes."  
"-green-blue eyed-"  
"Yes."  
"-raging psychopath out to kill us? Then yes, I have."  
"Well, I would not describe him that way, but he can be rather scheming at times." He paused to look the three of us over. "Where was he?"  
"Whoa, whoa, hang on a sec. You want us to take you back to the man who was trying to _kill_ us?!" Charlie shrieked. "Who are you to ask us to do that?"  
He blinked. "I am his brother, Thor."  
Charlie stopped her ranting and looked at me. "Ohhh," we sighed in unison.  
"That makes sense," Charlie intoned. Then, sighing, she answered his question. "Look, if you follow us I can guarantee that he'll follow us-but probably with some of those gross alieny-"  
"Chitauri."  
"What?" Lennon asked.  
"Chitauri. That is the name of the race that Loki brought to destroy your... what kind of establishment is this?"  
"School," I said. "Place to learn."  
He glanced from me, then Lennon (who was still in a kind of awestruck stupor), then locked on Charlie. "He brought the Chitauri to take over your _school_," he said, testing the word. "I am not sure for what reason, however."  
"Oh, I don't know," Charlie burst out, "Maybe he's just pissed that you got the throne, that Odin loved you better than him?"  
"If you look at it that way..." Thor said.  
We heard a heavy marching-like sound, and I grabbed his wrist. "We'd better move if we want to stay alive," I said. He didn't move.  
"Look," I continued. "You want to find your brother, and _your brother_ is hunting _us_. Therefore, you stick with us. And _we_ say we're going. So come on!"  
This time he followed, his footsteps heavy and thunderous. Charlie opened a door to the mostly darkened auditorium (only a few lights along the main aisle were lit) and we ran inside.  
"I call the booth!" Charlie called. She ran up to the sound booth and ducked beneath a sound board, out of sight.  
"I call orchestra pit!" Lennon called. She dashed down the aisle to the inconspicuous hole that lead to the pit.  
"That's good," I intoned. "I don't think you would have fit down there with us, big guy."  
" 'Big guy'?" he asked.  
"Well, either that or we're really little," I responded, heading to the shadowy back corner of the upper seats, "but I'm average size for a human."  
"Midgardian," he corrected.  
"Um, okay," I stuttered as he took my hand.  
"I do not believe I properly introduced myself," he said, placing a kiss on my knuckles. Feeling all the blood rush to my cheeks, I stared at him. "I am Prince Thor of Asgard, son of King Odin of Asgard, and rightful heir to the throne."  
I stuttered, "My name's Kat... um, Kat Adler, student at BHS, and... defender of her hometown?"  
"Ladies, why must you hide? You only delay your... _punishment_," Loki's smooth voice echoed.  
I swore under my breath, receiving a raised eyebrow from Thor. "Go get 'im," I said, swiping at Thor's bicep.  
Thor stepped out of the upper rows of seats. "Brother, why must you take over this..." He looked back in my direction. "School?"  
"You get a kingdom; why then, dear brother, am I not allowed a tiny town in Midgard?" Loki asked. I could practically feel the persuasion rolling off of his tongue as he questioned his brother.  
Thor scratched the back of his neck. "I suppose when you put it that way..."  
"No," I interjected, "it's wrong alright."  
Loki's eyes focused on me, and I had about half a second to realize that he had what looked like a legion of Chitauri behind them. I swore under my breath, and yelled for Lennon and Charlie. "Guys, we have company!"  
Both Lennon and Charlie saw my retreating back as I jumped onto the stage and ran behind the thick velvet curtains. By the pounding sound of running feet behind me I could tell that it was them who followed me and not any of the gods or aliens.  
"Okay, Kat, this is officially a wild goose chase. Where to now?!" Lennon cried.  
"English wing," I shouted back, huffing slightly as we hit a staircase lit by the windows of which it was comprised. We made it up to the third floor, which was also made mostly of windows. I stopped in shock and Charlie and Lennon both ran into me out of surprise.  
"Why'd you stop... Kat?" Charlie asked, the first part coming out like an accusation and the second a question. Peering around me, my comrades could see why I'd halted so suddenly. Two black-clad figures stood in the middle of the hallway as though there wasn't a lockdown in effect.  
"Who're you?" I called down to them, my voice bouncing off the cinderblock and linoleum.  
"We're agents with S.H.I.E.L.D.," the woman said. About my height-actually, slightly shorter-she folded her arms in front of herself as she waited for me to react. When I gave her a blank stare, she continued, "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. I'm Agent Romanoff, and this is my partner Agent Barton."  
"Or, if you want our superhero names, I'm Hawkeye, and she's Black Widow," Agent Barton added, a wry grin stretching across his face.  
I nodded, turning to look at my friends. Both were frozen in their spots, and Charlie was practically drooling.  
Applying a gentle elbow to their stomachs, I muttered, "Stop staring." With one last glance at them, I headed toward the secretive agents.  
"What's happening here? All we heard about was that there was a significant amount of energy expended here within the last 24 hours," Agent Romanoff asked.  
"Well, it was fifth period-which was about-" I glanced at the clock "half an hour or forty-five minutes ago when this guy named Loki stormed in."  
Her eyes narrowed. "Brother of Thor, about six feet tall?"  
Lennon nodded. "Yeah. He..." She paused, not sure how to explain it. "Well, you see, we-" she pointed between the three of us "-have powers. I'm the telepathic one, Kat here-" she pointed at me "is the pyro, and Charlie-" pointing at Charlie "-can make a force field. Nothing major, but... yeah."  
The two agents looked at each other. "When this is all said and done," Agent Barton said, "we'll need to bring you with us."  
"Why should we believe you?" Charlie asked, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes.  
"Why should _we_ believe _you_?" the male agent replied cocking his head and folding his arms across his chest.  
"I like the way he thinks," Charlie muttered, looking at us over her shoulder.  
I snapped both hands, igniting them, Charlie formed a little forcefield, and I assume by the shocked looks on their faces that Lennon spoke in the agents' heads.  
"Alright, we believe you," Barton replied, hands lifted in surrender. "And to answer your question, Charlie, you should believe us because we know some things about superpowers."  
Our heads whipped around as we heard voices coming up the stairway.  
"Brother, I should ask that you not try to conquer this town. The Midgardians are no longer our pets to do as we please; they have developed rapidly."  
"I am not your _brother_," Loki spat, "and therefore nothing I do should concern you."  
Agent Barton turned to me. "That him?"  
I nodded. "Yep." Looking over my shoulder at the staircase, ready for Thor, Loki, and the legion of Chitauri to come spilling out, I looked back at the agents. "If you'd follow me, please," I requested, and began to run.

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**_So there you have it. Fave and review! Please!_**


	3. To The Gym! Sorta

_**Oh, look! ANOTHER chapter! I still don't own anything, and neither do Nyx or TGWTF. We'd be very, very happy if we did.**_

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"Where are we going?" Agent Romanoff called.  
"Athletic locker room," I replied. "I have gear in there."  
We took stairs down to the first floor, then ran through a back hallway by the lunchroom and through the biology hallway before reaching the gym area. The air was tainted with the smell of chlorine; around the corner was the pool.  
We turned left, and there were the girls' locker rooms, both for P.E. and the one I was looking for.  
"Let's go," I breathed.  
Once we found my locker, I twirled the lock, feeling my hands shake under all the pressure I was feeling. Muttering my combination to myself, I tugged at the metal and the lock popped open.  
"Bingo," I whispered, pulling out my bag.  
"Bat," I said, pulling out the bat I wasn't claiming for myself. Charlie took it from my hands and held it aloft, practicing swings.  
"Hey," I shot, nudging her in the ribs. "Not in here," I continued when she looked at me.  
"Helmet," I said, pulling out the black-and-red helmet with our school logo on the forehead. Lennon snatched the helmet and pulled it on her head. I laughed as I watched the velcro chinstrap swing under her face.  
Tucking my preferred bat of the two under my arm, I pulled my worn grey-and-navy batting gloves on and gripped my bat in my hand.  
"Okay, I'm done here. What's our plan now?"  
Both agents put their left hands to their ears and listened for a second. The three of us stood around awkwardly, waiting for them to enlighten us on the situation.  
"Yes, director," Agent Romanoff said. Nodding, she continued, "I'll tell them."  
"I copy," Agent Barton added on his earpiece.  
"Director Fury has told us that there is another presence in the building," Agent Romanoff told us, "and said that you should hang tight here while we go investigate the source of the alarm."  
"First of all," Charlie began, and I groaned, "how are we going to keep in touch with you?"  
"We'd come back," Agent Romanoff promised.  
"Second of all, why would you think for even a moment that we wouldn't sneak out? I'm a freshman, don't even feel that much loyalty to this school, but still I feel like I need to help."  
"Good point," Agent Barton amended to his partner.  
There was an explosion from somewhere in the school, and Charlie muttered a curse under her breath. "That better not be the auditorium. The play's next week."  
"So... we can tag along?" Lennon asked.  
"Only if you can promise that you'll run at the first sign of danger," Romanoff replied. "We don't need you getting hurt."  
"There's no way in-" Charlie began.  
I stopped her with a glare. "We can do that."  
"Then let's go."  
We exited the locker room as quietly as possible, and after looking around the agents were about to go right, back to the hallway we'd come from when I interrupted. "Let's go this way, past the pool. There's a stairway back here."  
As we headed up the chlorine-scented stairs, Charlie looked at me. "You know, I never knew these stairs even existed," she murmured.  
"That's because we're freshmen," I responded. "And I have advisory back here."  
We passed the wrestling gym and health rooms, which were tucked in a wing above the gym and near the pool. They were, however, on the other side of the school from the lunchroom-I'd experienced this on many an occasion when going from a worthless advisory to about half an hour of lunch. The walk seemed to take forever.  
When we came to another fork in the hallway, the agents turned to us again. "Fury said the source of the disturbance was in the math hallway," Agent Barton began. "Where's that?"  
"This way," Lennon said, and turned to the right, her helmeted head bobbing down the hallway.  
When they got to the back of the math hallway, they found a tall man clad in red, white and blue with a star in the middle of his chest.  
"Captain," Agent Romanoff called. "We certainly weren't expecting to see you here." She paused, then continued. "How did you get here?"  
The star-spangled man nodded to the agent. "I got a ride. What are our orders?"  
Barton turned to the captain and filled him in on his orders. Charlie turned to me.  
"Look, it's Captain Marvel!" she said, moving her voice up to imitate something I wasn't familiar with. Lennon and I gave her matching confused looks. She smiled. "It's from a musical."  
"...and subdue Loki," agent Barton was telling the captain.  
He nodded. "Alright, we'll have Thor draw him out into the open and the rest of us will- Hold on, what are civilians doing here?"He gestured to Charlie, Lennon and I. "They should be in lockdown with the rest of the school."  
"They have... abilities that might be useful to us. And they can show us where everything is," Romanoff answered.  
The captain raised his eyebrows. "Abilities?"  
I sighed, and the three of us demonstrated our powers to him at the same time.  
He closed his eyes briefly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The twenty-first century is a strange place."  
"Believe me, when you're somebody who just got superpowers without gamma radiation or some sort of accident and you're only fifteen, it's the definition of strange," I inserted. "Now, we're kind of in need of some help, we've got a rampaging god on our tail. You in?"  
It seemed that he was either confused by my jargon or that my sarcasm threw him off, because he turned to the agents for help. "What does she mean?"  
"She's asking if you're going to help," Agent Barton replied, a wry smile twisting his lips.  
He beamed, a smile that would have been admired even today stretching across his face. "Of course I would!"  
"Welcome aboard," Charlie said, looking him over approvingly.  
"There!" came a cry. We looked to our right, and there, with Thor behind him, was Loki, leading an army of the gross, alien things.  
"Chitauri," Lennon called to me as we began to sprint. I looked at her in a second of confusion. "I read your mind. Those alien things are a race called Chitauri."  
"Oh, right," I replied, bluffing my knowledge of the things.  
Suddenly, Charlie-who was leading the group-stopped, causing the rest of us to nearly plow her over.  
"What was that for?" I yelled.  
Then I saw the flying, red-and-gold robot.

* * *

**_Yep. Favorite. Review. Please!_**


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